Page 34 of Agrippa

The following day, I quietly entered Rome.

When I called on Caesar, he expressed surprise to see me. Why had I come into the city unnoticed? What about my triumph?

I said it did not seem appropriate to hold a celebration when the people were hungry and we faced a continuing threat from Sextus.

– In any case, as you know, that kind of public ostentation has never been my style. The honour of serving you and my country is glory enough for me.

– Still, I wish you had spoken to me first. I would have tried to dissuade you.

He held out his arms.

– Come, let me embrace you, my oldest and dearest friend! My life has changed a lot since we last met.

He took me into the nursery and showed me his two new stepchildren, Livia’s sons by Claudius Nero – Tiberius, who was four years old, and Drusus, who was still a baby. He sent a message to Scribonia and had a wet nurse bring over his own baby daughter, Julia, who was not yet one and living with her mother a few houses away.

He held her at arm’s length and threw her up in the air a couple of times. When she started to cry, he handed her back to her nurse and told her to take her away.

– The family, Agrippa – this is the foundation of Roman society. And you now have a daughter of your own, of course. Tell me about her.

As I described Agrippina in the lyrical terms of a first-time father, he ruffled Tiberius’s hair.

– Wonderful, wonderful. Here is a thought. I would like there to be some public gesture of recognition for your success in Gaul. As it cannot any longer be a triumph, let us announce instead the betrothal of Caesar’s stepson Tiberius to your Agrippina. Would you like that, Tiberius?

Tiberius nodded. I am sure he had no idea what it meant.

The suggestion caught me by surprise. I could hardly refuse, though, and neither did I wish to. I said it would be an honour to have our two families joined in such a way.

– Excellent. Let us find the boy’s mother and tell her the good news.

Livia was lying on a couch, reading, and rose when we came in.

Maecenas was right, I had never met her before. I certainly would have remembered her if I had. She possessed a doll-like beauty, but it was not that which made her so compelling, as I was to discover over the following years, when I came to know her better. It was the toughness of her character.

She had been born into one of the ancient clans, the Claudii, and had been always on the losing side during the civil wars. Her father had committed suicide after Philippi. Her first husband, Nero, who was also her cousin, had followed the rebel cause of Lucius and Fulvia. After witnessing the massacre at Perusia, she had fled with him to the eastern Mediterranean, a pregnant teenager, where they had lived rough in the mountains, only narrowly escaping capture. She once described to me how her dress and hair had been scorched by flames when the shepherd’s hut they were hiding in was set on fire, and how the crying of her baby, Tiberius, had almost given them away. They had sought refuge with Sextus, and had only returned to Rome after the peace of Misenum.

Such was the determined survivor I met that winter’s afternoon – the only woman to whom I ever saw Caesar defer.

He introduced me as his oldest and closest friend and informed her that I had agreed to a match between Tiberius and Agrippina. She smiled and nodded in approval.

– I have heard a great deal about you, Agrippa. I will be honoured to have such a famous general related to my family. That was why I suggested it.

Caesar said the time had come to discuss the reason he had summoned me back to Rome. He ordered one of his secretaries to bring him maps of southern Italy. I assumed Livia would withdraw. Instead, once the charts were spread out, she joined us at the table.

Caesar described the chaotic sea battles of the summer and blamed his defeat on bad weather and the failure of Antony and Lepidus to come to his assistance.

Despite the presence of Livia, I decided to speak with my usual frankness.

– Be that as it may, Caesar – and I am sure the storms were fierce – the fact remains that we were beaten, and by a fleet manned by the dregs of the earth, who also faced the same storms as we did. The root of our problem is that Sextus occupies Sicily. It is unacceptable that a great empire should be held hostage by pirates occupying an island a mere four miles off its coast. The only way to put an end to these constant blockades and incursions is to drive him out of Sicily.

– That was what I was endeavouring to do!

– I understand, but to do it successfully, we need to employ the same principles on sea as we do on land – overwhelming force, professionalism and discipline. In short, we need a whole new navy, properly trained. And we need to base it permanently on the Mediterranean coast, not the Adriatic. Brundisium is on the wrong side of Italy.

– We have Ostia.

– Ostia is four hundred and fifty miles from Sicily.

– Then where do you suggest?